Geezers!

The next time I mention that I'm thinking of buying tickets to some band's reunion tour...just take away my credit card...and whack me upside the head with the stupid stick.

We went to see Genesis at the Stade de Suisse in Bern last night, and...

...it was the concert experience from HELL!!!

First of all, the tickets were expensive (over CHF 300/$250 for two tickets)...

Google Maps gave us a driving time of just over an hour, and the drive ended up taking us nearly THREE HOURS because of the horrific concert traffic!!!

Once we got to the stadium, traffic bottle-necked to two lanes, and then the lady directing traffic allowed about ten cars from one lane into the parking lot, stopped that lane, and then allowed ten cars from the other lane to enter the lot. Some of the Euro 2008 games are going to take place at this stadium next year. If last night's concert is any indication of how the Swiss authorities handle large crowds, then my advice is to...AVOID GOING TO EURO 2008!

The concert started at 7:30 p.m., and we arrived in the lot at about 8:15 p.m. (after paying our CHF 10 parking fee). Then, we had to walk about a mile (in the rain) to the stadium.

Upon arriving at our entrance gate, the security lady checked Mrs. TBF's purse and told her that she could not bring our umbrellas into the stadium. We told her that we had reserved, covered seats, and that we would not be using our umbrellas. Cut to the chase: the umbrellas went into a big pile outside the entrance, and then we retrieved them on our way out (amazingly!).

We eventually almost made it to our seats (stood in the vestibule), and saw that the band members looked like ants. The stage was at one end of the field, and we were at the other end.

We watched giant video screens for a couple of songs to see that the band members appeared to be glued to the stage. I'm talking ZERO movement, and ZERO excitement. GEEZERS!!! Hell...I could buy a DVD of their concert and create a lot more excitement watching it with Mrs. TBF on our sofa!

We started thinking about the Hell we had gone through getting to the stadium, and then we realized that it would be double-Hell leaving the stadium right after the concert. So, we each decided to make a quick trip to the bathroom and...get the HELL OUTTA THERE! Total time in the stadium? 15 minutes, or so! I told Mrs. TBF that they were the most expensive pees we had ever taken.

The drive home only took about an hour. We had a light, late dinner, popped in a DVD (The Big Lebowski), and watched it in bed. At some point, I turned off the DVD player and went to sleep. It was a short sleep - I had to drive Mrs. TBF to the airport this morning at 5:30 a.m.

Here's my advice if you're contemplating going to see Genesis in some other city: DON'T!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG! BORING!!! There was absolutely no excitement, the band seemed to be going through the motions, most of the songs were done in a medley format so that they could squeeze in all of their hits, the light/stage set-up was gimmicky, and...probably a zillion other negative things I would have noticed if I had managed to tough it out for more than fifteen minutes.

And...I'm a Genesis fan!

Phil Collins said they weren't doing it for the money...because they are all already loaded.

My opinion? They're doing it for the money!

Save YOUR money! By the DVD (that they're not putting out just for the money) when it comes out, and save yourself a hundred bucks.

What a disappointment!

In order to not sound totally negative, I guess I should try to come up with something positive....

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OK...the stadium was really nice - very clean and safe!